Update from the Ta`ta Maohi of French-Occupied Polynesia

By Pamela Meidell, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
6 September 1995

Dear Abolition Friends,

I spoke this evening with an activist in Tahiti about the
situation there. Yesterday, after it was announced publicly that
the nuclear test had taken place, one of the local unions called a
general strike on the island, that began at 12 midnight last
night. People began to congregate at the Tahiti airport at Faa'a.
By sunrise this morning the airport was entirely blocked. Two
international flights at 9 a.m. were cancelled, and police riot
forces were called in. They used tear gas to push back the crowd,
as well as force. Several people have suffered broken arms and
legs, and some have been hospitalized.

Fires were started at the airport. No one claims the
responsibility for starting them, but the people of the island say
that the French army started them to blame the people, and the
army of course says the people started them. At least twenty cars
have been burned and turned over. At 6 p.m. tonight, a large
building with a thatched roof close to the main terminal was
burning. The international flights scheduled for this afternoon
and tonight have been cancelled. The only way off the island is by
ferry to the neighboring island of Moorea, which has a very small
airport for interisland hoppers.

At dusk, 2,000 people were packed in front of the bridge that
fronts the airport. The people have occupied the airport and were
calling via Radio Tefana for reinforcements to make their way to
the airport. The main coastal road from Papeete to Punaviaa and
beyond is closed, and public transportation is not operating. One
of the two groups occupying the airport is Vahine To'a (literally
"warrior women to protect the land"), a newly formed group of
women who stormed the Hall of Justice last Wednesday. They
demanded that the High Commissioner of the Territory sign a
statement calling for the end of the tests. (He didn't.)

Oscar Temaru, mayor of Faa'a and leader of the Tavini Huiraatira
(the Tahitian Indenpendence Party), has called for a local
referendum of the people to end the testing. He has been in
negotiations since early this morning with representatives of the
territorial government, along with other local groups. The unions
will only talk with French Territorial President Gaston Flosse,
and not any other lower governmental representatives. The other
groups, including Tavini, are willing to negotiate with other
officials. As of 6 p.m., the negotiations were stalled.

The people are unwilling to put up with French decisions that
threaten their lives. The activist I spoke with said, "it's not
done yet," and believes that the time is ripe for the people of
French-occupied Polynesia to demand their independence.

Please fax statements of support to Radio Tefana at +689/82-54-93
or to the Faa'a City Hall at +689/83 48 90, and keep all of them
in your hearts and prayers.